Connie Lee Ketcham

Connie Lee Ketcham

Connie Lee Ketcham, formerly of Gouverneur, NY, died on Apr. 16, after losing her second battle with lung cancer in a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was 65 years old.
Ms. Ketcham was born Connie Lee Gamble on March 13, 1953 in Watertown, New York and grew up in the Evans Mills area. She attended Indian River Central School and later obtained her graduation equivalency diploma. Ms. Ketcham married her first husband, Harold Cole, in Sept. 1971, and she then moved to the Gouverneur area. She and Mr. Cole later divorced, and she married her second husband, John Ketcham, in 1989. They, too, later divorced.
She met her current common- law husband, Robert “Mitch” Rice and moved to Skiatook, Oklahoma in 1992. She travelled across the country with Mr. Rice, who works on the pipelines, for a number of years, and she later joined the Local 798 Pipe Liners’ Union, when she, too, became an employee. She worked on the pipe lines until she was diagnosed with her first round of lung cancer, which forced her to retire.
She was cancer-free for 13 years. While she was in retirement, she had a number of hobbies, which included making and selling a variety of arts and crafts. These included flower arrangements, pot holders, picture frames, and welders’ caps. Ms. Ketcham also loved to sing karaoke; she loved country music. She played the violin, organ, and guitar.
Ms. Ketcham was preceded in death by Carl E. Gamble and Dorothy Russell- Wright, her parents and her older brother David Costantino.
She is survived by Mr. Rice; her two children, her son retired Chief Petty Officer William  and daughter Barbara Cole; an older brother, Carl Gamble; a younger sister, Tina Demo; three grandchildren, Tamara, Allison, and Jacob; several nieces and nephews, as well as several great-nieces and nephews; and four dogs, Spike, Buddy, Max and Sophie.
Funeral arrangements were held on April 20 at the Sien-Shelton Funeral Home in Skiatook. They were presided over by Reverend Dale Nielsen. Her body was cremated, and her ashes will be buried in the Osage Gardens Cemetery at a later date.